The Hon.

Rebecca

R.

Pallmeyer

            Rebecca R. Pallmeyer graduated from Valparaiso University and earned her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.  Following a one-year clerkship with Justice Rosalie Wahl of the Minnesota Supreme Court, Chief Judge Pallmeyer practiced commercial litigation with a Chicago law firm. 

            From 1985 until 1991, Ms. Pallmeyer was an Administrative Law Judge with the Illinois Human Rights Commission, a quasi-judicial agency responsible for enforcement of the state's anti-discrimination laws.  On October 1, 1991, Ms. Pallmeyer was appointed a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois.  She served as Presiding Magistrate Judge from 1996 until 1998.  In 1997, President Clinton nominated her for a seat in the U.S. District Court in Chicago, where she has served since October 1998.   During her years on the district court, she has presided over dozens of class actions, and has served as transferee judge for several MDL cases, including In Re: Zimmer NexGen Knee Implant Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2272; In Re: Dealer Management Systems Antitrust Litigation, MDL 2817 and In Re: Abbott Laboratories, et al., Preterm Infant Nutrition Products Liability Litigation, MDL 3026.

            Chief Judge Pallmeyer is an honorary fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.  Since 2006, Chief Judge Pallmeyer has served on the faculty for the annual ALI-CLE program, Current Developments in Employment Law, held in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Chief Judge Pallmeyer is past President of the Lawyers Club of Chicago, past President of the Richard Linn American Inn of Courts, and an active member of the Chicago Bar Association, the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, and the American Bar Association.  She is past Secretary to the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section.

            Chief Judge Pallmeyer was sworn in as Chief Judge for the Northern District of Illinois on July 1, 2019 and served in that role until taking senior status in 2024.